s 



' *^.^f ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZERS 



NOT A NECESSITY, 



A TREATISE ON 



I THE EECUPERATING ENERGIES OF NATURE I 
m AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 



BY WM, J\f. GOGGIW, 

Of Shelby ville, Tenn. 



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ARTIFICIAL^FERTILIZERS 



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NOT A NECESSITY. 



A TREATISE ON 



THE EECtJPEEATma ENERGIES OF NATUEE 
m AGRICULTUEAL SCIENCE. 



jBYWM. M. 

Of Shelbyvi: 




PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1882. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by 

WILLIAM M. GOGGIN, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity, 



HOW can a soil that was once rich in the elements of 
organic life, and which through cultivation or oth- 
erwise has lost its productive power, and ceased to yield, 
regain its life-sustaining properties? Does nature pos- 
sess within herself any recuperating energies, by which, 
through the operation of her own laws, fertility can be 
restored to an exhausted soil, and the barren land again 
be made a fruitful field? In these questions are em- 
braced not only the temporal interests and well-being 
of the human race, but the whole animal kingdom, as 
well as man, that have derived their organic structure 
from the dust of the earth, for all alike must have their 
natural life sustained by the productions of the earth 
as their natural mother. While these questions are of 
universal interest, they make their appeal in stronger 
terms to the agriculturist than to any other class of 
mankind, or than to any other portion of the animated 
world; because the agriculturist has the manipulation 
of the soil by which the earth is made, through the 
operation of nature's law, to yield the elements of fer- 
tility in productive abundance for the sustenance of 
all her inhabitants. And it is the province of the 
agriculturist, by good cultivation and judicious man- 
agement of the soil, to do this on the one hand, or, by 
bad cultivation and injudicious management on the 
other, of exhausting the soil of its fertility through the 
operation of nature's laws, and thus depriving the 



4 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

earth of her full capacity to feed and sustain the nat- 
ural life of all her children. 

It will hardly be denied that it is throngh the opera- 
tion of natural laws that the earth is made fertile for 
good in the production of life-sustaining food. Neither 
will it be denied that it is through the operation of 
nature's laws that the soil becomes exhausted, made 
barren, and for evil deprived of her full capacity to 
yield her life-sustaining food. If, then, it be true that 
it is through the operation of nature's laws for good 
that the earth is made fertile on the one hand, and 
that it is through the operation of nature's laws for evil, 
on the other, that the earth is deprived of her fertility, 
and made barren, the importance of the agriculturist 
in the economy of nature is readily perceived. There 
was a period in the history of nature when the earth 
spontaneously produced all the sustenance necessary 
for the maintenance of the then existing animal king- 
dom; but mutation is a law of nature, and for the pres- 
ent leaving out of consideration all moral causes, there 
came a period when there was a change in the natural 
world that caused the soil to be less fertile, and through 
the operation of nature's laws brought partial barren- 
ness upon the land, and thus deprived the earth of her 
capacity to yield spontaneously a full supply of life- 
sustaining food; and it became necessary for man, b}^ 
the cultivation of the soil, to come to the aid of nature 
in the operation of her laws that tend to productive 
fertility, and thereby to counteract the evil in nature's 
laws in their tendency to barrenness and desolation. 

Then, to prevent the evil tendency of nature through 
the operation of her laws, and to aid her in her tend- 
ency to good through the operation of her laws, is the 
task that is imposed upon the cultivator of the soil. If 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a I^ecessity. 5 

this be true, then, let me speak a word of encourage- 
ment to the hard-working toiler upon the farm in ref- 
erence to the dignity of his occupation. His position 
as a cultivator of the soil places him iii his vocation 
upon an eminence in the natural world above the vo- 
cation of all other men, for to him is given the high 
and responsible position of directing the laws of nature 
into the channels of productive fertility that feed the 
world, thus making all others dependent upon him in 
his vocation. But it must be remembered that there is 
also another view of the position to which his vocation 
calls him. He must remember that his responsibilities 
are adequate to the dignity of his vocation; he must 
remember that it is upon his knowledge, his good judg- 
ment, and the fidelity with which he executes his trust, 
that his reward depends, either of honor or of pecu- 
niary benefit. This responsibility and this hope of re- 
ward makes it necessary for the cultivator of the soil 
to understand something of the operation of nature's 
laws in her production of that which sustains organic 
life in the natural world; and just in proportion to his 
understanding of these laws and their operation, and 
the fidelity and skill with which he complies with them 
in his labors upon the soil, will he be able to direct them 
in the channels of productive fertility, and thus be able 
to maintain the perpetual productiveness of the earth; 
while, on the other hand, just as he is ignorant of nat- 
ure's laws of production, and negligent or unskillful in 
the application of his labor, will he promote the opera- 
tion of nature's laws in bringing exhaustion, barren- 
ness, and desolation upon the land. Then, it is easy 
to perceive the advantages to the country and to the 
world, and the absolute necessity to the tiller of the 
soil, of thorough education in all agricultural knowl- 



6 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

edge, and a thorough education in the operation of nat- 
ure's laws of production, that he may be able to direct 
them in the channels of continued fertility, and pre- 
vent them from running into the channels of exhaust- 
ion that would bring the soil into a state of barrenness 
and desolation. This position, that it is necessary for 
the cultivator of the soil to direct the laws of nature, 
and keep them running in the channels of productive 
fertility, necessarily implies that if they are not so di- 
rected by the judgment and skill of the cultivator, they 
will run in the channels of exhaustion that tend to 
lessen the productive capacity of the soil in the essen- 
tial properties of life-sustaining food. This position as- 
sumes that if the laws of nature are not by cultivation 
directed in the channels of productive fertility, the 
earth will in process of time become a barren desolation 
through the operation of nature's laws. That is, if the 
chemical properties of the soil are not by cultivation di- 
rected in the channels of productive fertility, the chem- 
ical combination of elementary properties will become 
so changed in the soil into other and destructive combi- 
nations that the earth will cease to bring forth to ma- 
turity and perfection that class of organism in the veg- 
etable kingdom that furnishes the life-sustaining food 
of man; and thus the earth will become, through the 
operation of nature's laws, a barren desolation under 
the changed condition of the earth by reason of the 
curse that was put upon it for man's transgression of 
the moral laws of Grod; hence the necessity of cultiva- 
tion to direct the laws of nature in the channels of pro- 
ductive fertility. Though the curse was denounced 
upon the earth to bring labor, toil, and suffering upon 
man, it constitutes within itself the highest possible 
blessing to the physical well-being of man, and of all 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 7 

the animal kingdom that are dependent upon the pro- 
ductions of the earth for subsistence, while at the same 
time it brings nature, in the operation of her laws, upon 
the stand as an everlasting witness to the truth of di- 
vine revelation. 

Now, what I mean by exhaustion or infertility of the 
soil is not a withdrawal of the primary elements of 
original fertility, for in this sense exhaustion is impos- 
sible — nature can never lose any of the primary ele- 
ments of material being so long as she maintains her 
material existence — but as mutation is a law of nature, 
it is impossible for elementary properties to continue in 
the one combination, or forever to bring forth the same 
forms and properties of product, through the soil in 
which the changed combination has been made. Hence, 
when I say the soil has become exhausted and the earth 
made sterile, I mean that by mutation as a law of nat- 
ure a change in the combination of elementary prop- 
erties has taken place in the soil that has rendered it 
incapable of bringing forth in proper combination of 
elementary properties the products of earth tljat are 
necessary to the life of man. So, then, it is by the law 
of mutation that the soil is deprived of its fertility in 
the products necessary to sustain the life of man. So it 
is also by the law of mutation that the soil is made fer- 
tile in the products necessary to sustain the life of man. 
Then, if this be a true and correct position, it necessa- 
rily follows that nature does possess through the oper- 
ation of her own laws the recuperating energies ade- 
quate to restore fertility to an exhausted soil. If it be 
true that nature does possess the power within herself, 
through the operation of her own laws, the recuperat- 
ing energies necessary to restore fertility to an exhaust- 
ed soil, and perpetuate its productiveness, the question 



8 Artificial Fertilizers IsTot a Necessity. 

naturally presents itself, Is it absolutely necessary for 
the cultivator of the soil to resort to the use of artifi- 
cial fertilizers, or the natural fertilizers from the barn- 
yard, either to restore fertility to an exhausted soil 
or to perpetuate its fertility when restored? Agricult- 
ural science, as I understand it, teaches that it is an 
absolute necessity, because it teaches that the soil is 
possessed of a fixed and definite amount of the elements 
of fertility down to a certain depth, and that the land 
is rich or poor in fertility in proportion to the amount 
of these elements which it contains. Upon this prin- 
ciple as an axiom in agricultural science is based the 
theory that, as every crop taken off the soil carries with 
it more or less of these elements of fertility, it is an ab- 
solute necessity that their equivalents be by some means 
returned to the soil from whence they were taken. If 
they are not returned, and continued cropping is car- 
ried on, the land will ultimately be drained of all its 
elements of fertility, and become, by this process of 
cultivation and starvation, a barren desolation. I^ow, 
I ask, Does this harmonize with the facts that nature 
teaches when she declares that she does possess the re- 
cuperating energies, through the operation of her own 
laws, that will restore fertility to an exhausted soil, 
and perpetuate its productiveness when restored ? Does 
it harmonize with the teachings of nature when she de- 
clares that mutation is a law of her existence? Muta- 
tion being a law of nature, there cannot be and remain 
fixed in the soil a definite amount of the fertilizing 
properties of life-sustaining food. The elements of per- 
fect fertility can only exist in one form of organic food- 
supply in one combination at one time, and on account 
of the mutation of matter can only remain in that one 
combination but for a short period. Tiien, nature must 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 9 

have some other mode of carrying on her operations 
through which slie maintains the perpetual fertility of 
the soil that is as yet unknown to man, and by which 
she is enabled at the same time to impoverish one por- 
tion of the earth's surface and fertilize another. But 
again, mutation being a universal law of nature, the 
primary elements of fertility cannot exist originally in 
that combination of fertility that will furnish food to 
sustain the life of man; but they do perpetually exist 
in other forms and other combinations, until by inter- 
nal forces they are brought to the surface of the earth, 
and placed within the compass and under the influence 
of external agencies, to be by external agents changed 
into that combination of elementary fertility that pro- 
duces life-sustaining food for man. This internal force 
that perpetuates the ceaseless rounds of the earth's fer- 
tility is the expansive force of internal heat that forev- 
er dwells in the center of the earth, without which the 
surface of the earth would soon become a barren waste 
without the vestige of vegetation, and a desolation with- 
out the existence of animal life. The external agents 
are air, light, heat, and cold. The light and heat gen- 
erated by the sun in the earth's atmosphere, and radi- 
ated upon the surface of the earth, the sun being the 
vital force or first visible fountain of natural life, and 
water acting as a solvent, the air being vitalized by the 
sun, meets the primary elements of fertility in the sur- 
face-soil, carrying life into the surface-soil to the utmost 
depths which it can reach, building up for itself vital- 
ized organic structure possessing form and properties 
as diverse as are the combinations of elementary prop- 
erties that find their lodgment in the surface-soil; and 
cold as an agent to regulate the temperature necessary 
to produce changes in elementary condition, and to 



10 Artificial Fertilizers Not a IS'ecessity. 

hold in one combination the primary elements thus 
changed until the beneficial purposes of that combina- 
tion have been accomj^lished. These I conceive to be 
the leading external agents and the order of their func- 
tions in the economy of nature. To regulate and con- 
trol these agents, and direct them in the channels of 
productive fertility in the soil, that will cause the earth 
to bring forth in the greatest amount and in the greatest 
variety of forms the products necessary to sustain the 
life of man and beast, is the business of the cultivator 
of the soil, and is what was meant when it was said that 
it was the business of the cultivator of the soil to di- 
rect the laws of nature into channels of productive fer- 
tility in the elements of life-sustaining food. The farm- 
er can stir his land deep or shallow, he can pulverize 
his soil fine or coarse, and open it minutely or partially 
deep or shallow to the penetration of the air, to have 
its primary elements vitalized by radiated light and 
heat from the sun according to the labor bestowed in 
preparing the seed-bed and cultivating the crop; and 
if the rain-fall and the dews are too small in quantity 
to be a sufficient solvent, he may supply that deficiency 
by irrigating his land; and in this way the cultivator 
of the soil can come to the aid of nature in the opera- 
tion of her laws, directing them in the channels of fer- 
tility in the products necessary for the sustenance of 
man and beast. 

Upon this theory of the operation of nature's laws of 
productive energy it is not absolutely necessary for the 
farmer to resort to artificial fertilizers, or to fertilizers 
placed in productive combination by the art of man, 
for it supposes that in the mineral properties of the soil 
exist all the elements of organic life, but not in that 
combination of productive fertility of vegetable organ- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 11 

ism necessary to sustain the life of the animal kingdom. 
This combination of elementary properties is effected 
in the surface-soil, through the operation of nature's 
laws, by the external agents above referred to. These 
agents may be directed into the channels of productive 
fertility, and the products of the land be changed or 
modified according to the skill or judgment of the cul- 
tivator of the soil. The reason why the forms of all 
organic life were first developed through the mineral 
elements of the soil is because all the soil that com- 
poses this great globe of earth upon which we live, and 
of which we, in our physical organism, are a constitu- 
ent part, is composed of mineral elements, variously 
combined, that was once in a condensed state, and 
that once existed in a state of solid mineral, condensed 
into one solid mass, in the center of the great globe of 
waters that compose the atmosphere, the water, and the 
dry land of the earth as it now exists. This mass of 
condensed mineral matter that was, through the opera- 
tion of nature's laws, once lodged in the center of the 
great globe of waters, but which, through the opera- 
tion of nature's laws, was there again fused into a liquid 
state, and that portion of mineral matter that does not 
at any one time enter into and compose the crusts of 
the earth, is still in a state of fusion in the center of the 
earth, or below its outer crusts, where the mineral ele- 
ments must forever continue in a state of fusion; if it 
does not, the surface of the earth will become a barren 
waste, destitute of vegetation, and a desolation without 
inhabitant, because it is this internal heat, this fused 
state of mineral matter below the crusts of the earth, 
that is the fountain that supplies the surface-soil with 
the mineral elements of plant-food, first in the forma- 
tion of crusts of the earth out of the mineral matter 



12 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Kecessitt. 

condensed at its center, and now by the gases of the 
fused mineral escaping into the atmosphere through 
the crusts of the earth. To arrest these mineral ele- 
ments in their circulation, prevent their escape into the 
atmosphere, and hold them in the surface-soil until 
they are put into the proper combination of productive 
fertility by the external agents, and appropriated by 
the crops as plant-food, is the business of the cultivator 
of the soil, if he would escape the necessity of using 
artificial fertilizers to restore fertility to his exhausted 
land, and keep it in a fertile condition when restored. 
How best to do this is a question yet to be solved, and 
doubtless will depend very much upon the practical 
observation of the cultivator of the soil. This theory 
is based upon the mutation of matter as a law of nature, 
and proposes to utilize the law of mutation to replen- 
ish the soil that is being continually exhausted by mu- 
tation of the primary elements of the material world 
in their ceaseless rounds of varied form and varied 
combination. 

This theory of the recuperating energies of nature, 
if I understand the record, was first proclaimed by 
Moses in his historical account of the creation of the 
heaven and the earth, and is, therefore, as old as the 
order of nature, through the operation of whose laws 
the heaven and the earth were brought to perfection at 
the end of the sixth age of the world's existence. 

Having previously given my interpretation of that 
record in a manuscript treatise, entitled "Progression, 
or the Grenesis of the l^atural and Spiritual World," I 
shall, therefore, quote from that treatise so much of my 
interpretation of the historical record of creation as I 
think may relate to, or throw light upon, the recuper- 
ating energies of nature in their application to agricult- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a ISTECEgsiTY. 13 

ural science; though that interpretation of the historical 
record of creation was not written with any view to 
agricultural growth or the development of agricultural 
science, but was written for the purpose of unfolding 
and bringing into conspicuous light the truth of divine 
revelation which is based upon that record. In my in- 
terpretation of the Mosaic record of creation, I was 
forced to adopt what I termed an astronomical theory, 
or a theory based upon the motion of the heavenly 
bodies J for upon no other hypothesis could I obtain a 
rational understanding of that record, and harmonize 
other revealed truths with its teachings. Moses com- 
mences his historical record of creation by saying: "In 
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 
And the earth was without form and void ; and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep." That is, as I understand 
it, in the beginning of the first age of the earth's exist- 
ence the earth was created a globe of waters, not sur- 
rounded by any atmosphere, but containing within 
itself the atmosphere, and not containing any form of 
organic structure, but containing in elementary proper- 
ties all organic structure and life. Upon this theory 
of the motion of the heavenly bodies, the darkness that 
enveloped the earth at its creation defines the locality 
of the earth at that period as being so remote from the 
sun, and so far beyond the limits of the solar system to 
which it now belongs, that the light of the sun did not 
reach it until near the end of the first age, and conse- 
quently darkness covered the face of the deep chaotic 
mass. In support of this view, the record says: "The 
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And 
God said. Let there be light ; and there was light." Upon 
this theory the sun, as the center of the solar system, 
with all its retinue of worlds, was then, as it is now, 



14 Artificial Fertilizers I^ot a Kecessity. 

moving through space upon a great circle that led in 
the direction of the locality of the earth; and it is as- 
sumed, upon this theory, that when the Spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the darlr globe of waters, the 
newly-created earth was energized and caused to re- 
volve upon its axis, and was also put in motion, or 
caused in revolutions to move upon a great circle or 
orbit of its own. This circle, or orbit, upon which it is 
still moving, led in the direction of the orbit upon which 
the sun and the solar system are moving. This great 
orbit upon which the earth is here supposed to be 
moving is so vast in extent that it will take all the 
seven periods of duration mentioned in the historical 
account of creation for it to make one revolution. As 
the history of creation mentions specifically the work 
that was done in each successive age, we may suppose 
the orbit of the earth to be divided into seven equal 
parts, and when the earth has passed over one-seventh 
of its orbit, that age in the duration of nature's exist- 
ence ends; and the record describes the work that was 
done in that age, and so on through all the ages men- 
tioned in the record. And when the seven periods 
mentioned in the record that it takes for the earth to 
make her revolution upon this great orbit are passed, 
the works of Grod in nature will end, the natural world 
will cease to exist, and a new heaven and a new earth 
will be brought into being through the operation of 
higher and more exalted laws ; for we are told in Revela- 
tion that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth. 
When in the first age the earth and the sun had so 
far approximated each other that the light of the sun 
had reached the earth, the record says, "And God saw 
the light, that it was good." God saw that his will was 
obeyed in nature through the motions given by his 



Aetificial Fertilizers Not a Kecessity. 15 

Spirit to the worlds which he had created, and that by 
their motions upon theiir respective orbits the light of 
the sun had reached the earth, and. lighted up the 
newly-created world that had hitherto been concealed 
in darkness. And G-od saw that the light was a suita- 
ble agent through which to develop the forces of nature, 
and bring her laws into active exercise that would make 
changes in the material world, through the force of 
which nature might be vitalized, her organic structures 
be built up, and creation be brought to perfection. "And 
God saw that it was good." When the light of the sun 
reached the earth, light was, and darkness was, whereas 
before all was darkness. The light was on the side of 
the earth next to the sun, while in the shadow of the 
earth it was dark on the other side, and thus the light 
was divided from the darkness. However, or by what- 
ever means or agencies, if any, that motive power was 
given to the globe of waters, the earth was made to re- 
volve upon its axis. 

The light of the sun continually shining, the side of 
the earth next to the sun would be continually lighted 
up by its rays. The revolution of the earth upon its 
axis carried the side of the earth next to the sun into 
the shadow of the earth, and it was dark, while the side 
of the earth that was in the shadow was brought up to 
the face of the sun, and it was light; and thus the light 
and the darkness were made to succeed each other 
alternately. "And God called the light day, and the 
darkness he called night; and the evening and the morn- 
ing were the first day." So we learn from the record 
that in the beginning of the first age the earth was in 
darkness, that darkness covered the face of the deep. 
The age began in darkness and ended in light, and this 
is the reason why the evening, or period of darkness, 



16 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

is placed first in the historical record. The earth has 
now passed over one-seventh of its orbit, and the first 
age assigned for its existence is closed, together with 
the record describing its historical events. 

A new era now dawns upon the world, and new 
events are to occur, and a new record is to be given of 
their historical occurrence, for the light of the sun has 
now reached the earth, and begun to develop the forces 
of nature as we have seen in the division of the light 
from the darkness, and the regularity with which the 
one succeeds the other. The sun and the earth con- 
tinuing to move upon their respective orbits, their con- 
tinued approximation gives a continually increased 
power to the sun over the earth, by which new forces 
are developed that produce the events recorded in all 
the different ages up to the creation of man. 

The second age, like all that remains of the six, the 
history of which has been recorded, opens with an im- 
perative command from Grod. The language of the 
record is, "And God said. Let there be a firmament in 
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters 
from the waters." The command being given, the 
record says : "And God made the firmament, and divided 
the waters which were under the firmament from the 
waters which were above the firmament ; and it was so." 
That is, was so done as he commanded that it should be 
done. Here we have the sacred historian recording the 
fact that God gave the command that certain things 
should be done, and then saying that God himself did 
the work after he had given the command that it should 
be done, and, after the work was done, then reporting 
the fact that God acknowledged that the work was so 
done as he commanded that it should be done. If God 
himself in unity alone did the work of creation by 



Artificial Fertilizers Kot a Necessity. 17 

the utterance of the command, and it was so done, why 
did he give the command as if given to a second per- 
son, "Let there be a firmament; let the waters be 
divided; let the earth bring forth?" etc. Did Grod him- 
self alone in unity give the command to himself alone 
in unity, and then do the work himself alone in unity, 
and, after the work was done, acknowledge to himself 
alone in unity that the work was so done as he com- 
manded that it should be done? Kay, veril}^; such 
a proceeding in the history of creation would be incon- 
sistent with the attributes of God. It cannot, there- 
fore, be considered that God was acting alone in the 
unity of one person in the creation of the heaven and 
the earth ; and if God was not acting alone in the work 
of creation, the question arises in our mind, To whom 
did God give the command when he said. Let there be 
a firmament, and let the waters that are under the 
firmament be divided from the waters that are above 
the firmament? And to whom did God acknowledge 
that the work was so done as he had commanded that 
it should be done ? The only answer that we are author- 
ized to give to this question is that it was the ever- 
living Son of God, who is the Creator that obeyed the 
commands of God, and who, in the work of creation, 
is called the Word, and who, as God, was then dwelling 
in the natural attributes, and by whom, in their exer- 
cise, God created all things in contradistinction to the 
moral attributes of God, and by whom God, in the full- 
ness of all his attributes, both natural and moral, 
created all things, both in the natural and in the spir- 
itual world. The sun continues to be the great agent 
that God employs to develop the forces of nature and 
put his laws into active exercise, through which his 
purposes are accomplished and his commands are 
2 



18 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

obeyed in creation. Then, to see how the firmament 
was made, and the waters were divided from the waters, 
we must again refer to the orbits of the earth and the 
sun. The continued approximation of the earth and 
the sun on their respective orbits gave increasing light 
and heat from the sun upon the globe of waters which, 
as a force of nature, was generated upon its surface. 
From heat, as a force of nature thus generated upon 
the face of the waters, there Was expansion, a vaporiza- 
tion of the waters, and their ascension in vapor and 
gaseous form above the globe of waters, and thus not 
only making the firmament, but also dividing the wa- 
ters above from the waters that were under the firma- 
ment. "And God called the firmament heaven." It is 
expressly declared that in the beginning — that is, in the 
commencement of the first age — G-od created the heaven 
and the earth, and it is here declared that in the sec- 
ond age God made the firmament, and called it heaven. 
Here arises the necessity for a distinction between the 
words create and make. In the beginning of the first 
age God created — that is, originated — the material ele- 
ments of the heaven (the firmament) to make the firma- 
ment in the second age, and call it heaven ; so that both 
declarations are true, both as to fact and date. In the 
beginning of the first age God did, by the exercise of his 
omnipotent power, or at least without any revealed or 
known laws, create the material world, in which ex- 
isted, when created, all the matter that enters into and 
constitutes the firmament, which he called heaven. 
And not only was the heaven thus created in the be- 
ginning of the first age, but also all the material ele- 
ments that enter into and compose the mineral, the 
vegetable, and the animal kingdoms were created in 
the beginning of the first age; but as bodies of form 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 19 

and living being they were dormant, and their forms 
were hidden in darkness and in chaos until the forces of 
nature developed into active exercise the laws of pro- 
duction, by which they were evolved out of chaotic 
darkness, and placed in visible form in the creation of 
the natural world. These forces of nature were the 
natural attributes of Grod, which were made active 
through natural laws ordained of G-od for the creation 
of the natural world, in contradistinction to his moral 
attributes and moral laws, through which he creates 
the spiritual world. These forces, or natural attributes, 
dwell eternally in God, and were called into active ex- 
ercise, through the agencies which he ordained for their 
development, just as fast as the progress of creation 
prepared the world for new events and new forms of 
being. Thus we find that in the second age this pro- 
gressive order had so far advanced that the increased 
light and heat from the sun upon the globe of waters had 
developed into active exercise the force of expansion 
and laws of vaporization, and the consequent ascen- 
sion of material elements in gaseous form above the 
waters, thus making the firmament, and dividing the 
waters above from the waters that were under the 
firmament. 

At the beginning of the first age of the world's ex- 
istence the earth was so far out in the great void of 
space, and so remote from the sun, that the light and 
heat from the sun did not reach it, and it was, there- 
foi*e, both in darkness and without a surrounding atmos- 
phere. But in the second age, as we have seen, the 
atmosphere was drawn out of chaos by the force of ex- 
pansion, and was developed into active exercise by the 
light and heat of the sun, and was made to surround 
the earth ; and thus did the forces of nature, the natu- 



20 Artificial Fertilizers 'Not a Necessity. 

ral attributes of Grod, obey the commands of God when 
he said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the 
waters, and let it divide the waters that were above 
from the waters that were under the firmament." "And 
the evening and the morning were the second day." 

But expansion was not the only force that was in 
process of development during this age; for the same 
great agent that developed expansion also caused con- 
densation by cohesion, and the formation of crystallized 
solids in the waters not vaporized; and when solids 
were formed, gravitation became an active force in the 
globe of waters, preparatory for the production of 
events recorded in the third age. 

The earth had now gone through two-sevenths of its 
orbit, and still approximating the sun, the power of 
light and heat from the sun was augmented upon its 
surface; and entering upon the third age of its exist- 
ence, the commands of God are again uttered, "And 
God said. Let the waters that are under the firmament 
be gathered together unto one place ;" that is, let the 
waters that were not yet vaporized, and made to con- 
stitute the firmament, but that still remained under the 
firmament, "be gathered together unto one place, and 
let the dry land appear, and it was so;" and it was so 
done as he commanded that it should be done. And so 
the commands of God continued to be given in every 
succeeding age after the creation of the heaven and 
the earth, in the beginning of the first age, until the 
heaven and the earth were made perfect, and all the 
orders of creation were brought into form and struct- 
ure, in a state of natural perfection, at the end of 
the sixth age. In view of these facts, as set forth in 
the divine, record, it becomes a matter of interest to the 
searcher after light and truth to know who was the 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 21 

person to whom these commands were given. "We can 
only learn from the record of creation that the com- 
mands were given, and that the work was done in sat- 
isfactory obedience to the commands. We cannot learn 
from that record who it was that was then dwelling in 
the Godhead, by whom God made all things, because 
the period had not yet arrived in the history of the 
world for the manifestation of this indwelling person 
of the Godhead; for this belongs to the moral economy 
of God, and not to the natural economy of God, the 
history of which he is now recording. But the period 
has now arrived in the history of the world when he 
may be known, for the moral economy of God is now 
in process of development. And God has revealed him, 
and to find him in the moral economy of God, to whom 
God gave the commands of creation, we have only to 
turn our attention to the first chapter of the inspired 
evangelist John, and we read as follows: "In the be- 
ginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
with God. All things were made by him, and without 
him was not any thing made that was made. In him 
was life, and the life was the light of men. And the 
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness compre- 
hended it not." And in verses 9-14 we read: "That was 
the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world." "And the world was made by him." 
"He came unto his own, and his own received him 
not; " that is, the world was his own, for he made it. 
"He came unto his own, and his own received him 
not" as .its maker and the bestower of natural life. 
"But as many as received him" — that is, as many as 
received him as the maker and bestower of natural 
life — "to them gave he power to become the sons of 



22 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

God, even to them that believe on his name," to them 
gave he power to be born of the Spirit of God, and 
made to possess spiritual life — born not of natural life, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but 
of God. "And the Word was madeflesh, and dwelt among 
us." The maker of the world was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us. Here, in the record of the moral ecomomy 
of God, we have it fully set forth by an inspired writer 
who it was that was with God in the beginning of the 
creation of the natural world, and who it was to whom 
the commands to make the natural world were given, 
and for whom and by whom God made all things that 
were made. And we have also here revealed to us the 
name by which he is known in the Godhead as the 
creator and maker of all things. The Word was his 
creative name. "In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All 
things were made by him, and without him was not 
any thing made that was made." "The Word was 
made flesh and dwelt among us, and ye beheld his 
glory." When at his baptism he was declared by the 
Spirit of God, in a voice from heaven, to be the only- 
begotten Son of God, and as the Son of God manifest 
in the flesh, his name in the Trinity, as mediator be- 
tween God and man, is Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the 
anointed, the chosen, and ordained of God from the 
foundation of the world to be the mediator between 
God and man. 

But to return to the natural economy of God, and 
pursue the history of the creation of the natural world 
as I find it in the record of Moses. I learn that when 
that great force-developing agent, the sun, that God had 
ordained to develop the forces of nature, had brought 
into active exercise the laws necessary to bring order 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a [N'ecessity. 23 

out of chaos, the result followed in obedience to the 
will of God, and his commands were obeyed as if he 
had spoken, and it was done; he commanded, and it 
stood forth. 
' We have seen in the second age of the world's exist- 
ence the development of the force of expansion caused 
by the light and heat of the sun generated upon the 
surface of the waters in the first and second ages of 
the world's being. We have also seen in the second age 
that by the force of expansion caused by the light and 
heat of the sun the waters were divided from the wa- 
ters, and the atmosphere was made to surround the 
earth. When the atmosphere had been made to sur- 
round the earth, electricity, as a force in nature, was 
generated b}^ the same great agent, and chemical com- 
bination of mineral properties followed, and cohesion 
was developed, and by cohesion solids were formed in 
small crystals in the surface of the waters. When sol- 
ids were formed, gravitation became an active force in 
the globe of waters, attracting to the center of the globe 
of waters the solid particles that cohesion had formed 
in its surface-waters. By the force of gravitation these 
solid particles were settled in the center of the globe 
of waters, and by cohesion were there formed into a sol- 
id mass of mineral matter, thus making a solid founda- 
tion, upon which the surrounding waters rested. The 
augmentation of light and heat upon the surface of the 
globe continually increasing the volume of electricity 
upon its surface through the gases of the atmosphere, 
that subtle fluid, by an effort to restore an equilibrium 
to its condition, that was continually being destroyed 
by its continually increasing volume, was conducted in 
electric currents from every part of the earth's sur- 
face where it had been generated to its center, and the 



24 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

currents of electricity, meeting in the center of that 
compact mass of minerals, there formed a heat, was 
there accumulated the continually increasing force of 
which that compact mass could not resist; and by the 
expansive force of heat there accumulated the solid 
barriers of the earth's foundations were broken up, 
many of the smaller fragments of rock were melted by 
the intense heat, while many of the larger ones were 
ground into gravel, sand, and fine dust by the long-con- 
tinued boiling and surging of the liquid mass of fire, 
while other rocks of still larger dimensions were ele- 
vated from the center of the earth as far as the expan- 
sive force of as yet accumulated heat could carry them, 
and there by the same force held in position, thus form- 
ing a compact outer crust inclosing the internal heat, 
and forming a solid bed of rock upon which the grav- 
el, sand, and dust of the ground-up rocks were contin- 
ually being deposited in large beds. The agitation of 
the surrounding waters caused by the boiling and surg- 
ing of the waves of internal heat drifted these beds of 
dust, sand, gravel, and ground-up rocks into many high 
elevations in the bosom of the great globe of waters. 
The volume of electricity continuing to increase upon 
the surface of the waters, the internal heat was contin- 
ually being increased, and the expansive force of in- 
ternal heat was thus continually augmented until these 
drifts of dust, sand, gravel, and broken and ground-up 
rocks were elevated above the surrounding waters by 
its expansive force, the waters as a consequence resting 
between these elevations. And the commands of God 
were obeyed, the dry land appeared, and the waters 
were gathered together unto one place. "And God 
called the dry land earth, and the gathering together 
of the waters called he seas." And thus God records 



ARTinciAL Fertilizers Not a J^ecessity. 25 

the formation of the mineral kingdom and the forma- 
tion of the earth out of the mineral kingdom, and also 
the age of the world in which these events occurred. 
These commands of G-od being obeyed, God proceeds to 
give another command in the same age: "And G-od 
said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding 
seed, and fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose 
seed is in itself," upon the earth — that is., whose seed of 
the vegetable kingdom was created in elementary prop- 
erties in the earth in the beginning of the first age of 
the world, when God created the heaven and the earth 
to be made or brought forth in visible structure and or- 
ganic life in all their different varieties and kinds in 
this the third age of the world. The earth being pre- 
pared as above described, it was perhaps richer in the 
mineral elements of plant-food than it has ever since 
been, or at least the mineral elements in proper combi- 
nation were more accessible for the nourishment of the 
vegetable kingdom then than they have ever been since 
the curse was denounced upon the earth for man's sake ; 
so that under the genial influence of the sun upon the 
gases of the atmosphere and upon the earth organic 
life was evolved out of the seeds or primary elements 
of the vegetable kingdom that were created in the earth 
in the beginning, when God created the heaven and 
the earth. And soon the earth stood forth beautifully 
clothed in a carpet of living green. "And the evening 
and the morning were the third day." The earth has 
now passed over three-sevenths of her orbit, and in her 
progress toward the sun has reached the confines of 
the solar system, and God issues his commands for the 
birth of time, the three preceding ages of creation be- 
ing in eternit}^, before time was ordained. Then, upon 
this theory, we have the mineral kingdom, the dry land, 



26 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

and the seas, created in eternity past; and not only the 
mineral kingdom, the dry land, and the seas, but the 
vegetable kingdom also; and the earth was clothed in 
living green in the ages of eternity anterior to the ex- 
istence of time. These eternal ages are the periods of 
duration in which the eternal and infinite God keeps 
the record of all his works. But now time is to be or- 
dained, these eternal ages are to be subdivided into 
measurements of time for the convenience of finite be- 
ings, to mark the periods and record the events of finite 
things. 

It is not necessary in this treatise for me to give my 
interpretation of the historical record of creation dur- 
ing the remaining four ages of its historical account, 
because it is in the historical account of the first three 
ages, particularly that of the third age, that agricult- 
ural science, on the theory of the recuperating energies 
of nature, finds its chief support. This theory of the 
origin and formation of the earth may not agree in all 
respects with the teachings of geological science; and 
as I am not acquainted with the science of geology and 
its teachings, I am not prepared to harmonize their dif- 
ferences; but this theory seems to harmonize so well 
with the historical account of creation as recorded in the 
Bible that I am constrained to regard it as the true so- 
lution of the origin and formation of the earth. What- 
ever geological science may teach in regard to the ori 
gin of internal heat, there is no difference in regard to 
its existence; but whether geology teaches that inter- 
nal heat is necessary to the present condition and per- 
petual fertility of the earth I do not know. But while 
this theory admits that there may have been and may 
continue to be many partial and local revolutions of the 
earth as a result of the expansive force of internal heat, 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 27 

yet it teaches that there never has been but one radical 
and universal revolution resulting from the expansive 
force of internal heat, and that universal revolution 
caused by internal heat occurred when the " dry land 
was made to appear, and the waters were gathered to- 
gether unto one place." Though that revolution might 
have been gradual and running through a long period 
of duration, attended by many violent eruptions in 
many parts of the earth, this would in no wise interfere 
with the progressive development of creation until all 
the orders of material being had been brought out of 
chaos, and made to stand before the eye of the Creator 
in the beauty of perfection as at the end of the sixth 
age. There could have been no universal decadence 
and renewal at the end of every successive age with- 
out destroying the harmony of that progressive de- 
velopment which commenced when Grod created the 
heaven and the earth in elementary properties in the 
beginning of the first age, to be developed and brought 
in progressive order during the succeeding ages, until 
all that was created in the beginning was brought to 
perfection, and chaos was exhausted and swallowed up 
in the perfection of order at the end of the sixth age. 
My conception of geology, without knowing the fact 
that it does so teach, is that up to this the third age 
of the world the earth had gone through three radical 
and universal revolutions of decadence and renewal, 
and that as the earth has now gone through six of its 
ages it has passed through six such decadences and re- 
newals. This successive decadence and renewal of the 
works of God in creation would most certainly be to 
put an end to the eternal law of progressive develop- 
ment by limiting the natural forces of creation to the 
end of each successive age; and it necessarily follows 



28 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

that if the natural forces can be limited, the natural 
attributes of God are not eternal. But we know that 
all the attributes of God are eternal. The natural at- 
tributes of God, operating through the laws of nature, 
may bring the natural world to a state of natural per- 
fection; and then, under the progressive law of eternal 
development, the natural forces may cease to operate 
through natural laws, and then moral forces may be 
brought into exercise, and through the operation of 
moral laws the natural world may be changed into a 
spiritual world; and so successive changes may follow, 
through the development and manifestation of unknown 
and unrevealed attributes of God, throughout the cease- 
less ages of eternity. By decadence and renewal of 
the works of God in creation, at the end of every suc- 
ceeding age the progressive law of eternal development 
would be destroyed, and the glory of God, in the perfec- 
tion of all his attributes, could never be made manifest. 
Geology teaches that the history of creation maybe 
correctly read in the stratified rocks, and the deposits 
that rest upon them in the bosom of the earth, through 
each succeeding age. That these stratified rocks and 
their deposits do exist, in regular and successive order, 
in the crusts of the earth, there can be no doubt, for 
they were so deposited by the laws of nature. If they 
had not been deposited in regular and successive order, 
they would have been in disorder and confusion, which 
could not have resulted from the regular operation of 
the laws of nature. So, then, the regularity of their 
order proves them to have resulted from the operation 
of nature's laws. But let me respectfully ask the ques- 
tion of the geologist. Is there no other mode, through 
the operation of nature's laws, by which the regularity 
of these deposits might be secured, than that of sue- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 29 

cessive decadence and renewal of the crusts of the 
earth in the order of progressive creation? Is nature 
so limited in her forces that she could find no other 
mode for the operation of her laws to effect this regu- 
lar order of deposits in the crusts of the earth than 
that of decadence and renewal? If it can be success- 
fully shown that nature can be thus limited in her 
forces and confined in the operation of her laws, then 
it may be taken for granted that decadence and renewal 
are the order of God in the economy of nature. But 
let us take the historical account of creation, as recorded 
in the Bible, and see if it does not unfold to us a law in 
nature by which both the character and the regularity 
of these deposits that form the crusts of the earth 
might be secured without successive decadence and re- 
newal. That record says: "In the beginning God cre- 
ated the heaven and the earth." That is, in the begin- 
ning of the first age of the world God created the 
heaven and the earth. If this declaration be true, then 
God has created nothing since the beginning of the 
first age. The earth has not gone into decay, to be 
made again by a new and successive creation with 
every successive age, for then there would be no first 
age in the natural economy of God, but each and every 
age would be the beginning and the end of the dispensa- 
tion of nature in the natural economy of God, and there 
could be no succession of ages in the history of creation. 
But God created in the first of the first age all things 
in elementary properties, and consequent chaos and 
disorder, to make and bring into order, during the five 
succeeding ages mentioned in the record, all that in 
the beginning of the first age he had created in ele- 
mentary properties. In the mineral elements existed 
the chief if not all the properties which God created 



30 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

in the beginning of the first age to make in the suc- 
ceeding ages into form and structure, both of the veg- 
etable and the animal kingdoms. ' If it is a law of 
nature in chemical science that all minerals in solution 
have an affinity for their own properti-es, so that in 
condensation they would come together, 1^ there were 
no obstructions by reason of other minerals in solution 
with which they were mingled, and beingthus prevented 
from coming together, they would by affinity assimilate 
with such minerals as were most like them in their 
properties, then, I think, we have the ground from 
which, by deduction, we can find a law of nature that 
would deposit, in regular and successive order, the 
different strata of rocks and earths, with all their pe- 
culiar properties and characteristics. 

When the first great and universal revolution of the 
earth was caused by the expansive force of internal 
heat, a large portion of the mineral matter created in 
the beginning in elementary properties had, by cohe- 
sion, condensed into a solid mass at the center of the 
globe of waters, and by the heat that was concentrated 
there it was melted, or put into a liquid state, and, by 
affinity and assimilation, deposited in regular and suc- 
cessive strata in the crusts of the earth during the long 
period of duration through which the expansive force 
of internal heat was operating to elevate the dry land 
above the surrounding waters, each successive strata of 
rocks and earths coming together, by affinity and as- 
similation, in its own respective mineral properties and 
characteristics; and the earths all being composed of 
mineral matter in diversified combination, it would be 
an absolute necessity to the perpetual sustenance of the 
vegetable kingdom- for the different strata composing 
the crusts of the earth to be so deposited that the veg- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 31 

etable kingdom might be supplied with the mineral 
elements in proper combination, as they were driven in 
gaseous form by the force of internal heat through the 
crusts of the earth, and lodged in the surface-soil of the 
earth, to be there again acted upon by the external 
agents, and ptut in condition to be assimilated and appro- 
priated as plant-food for the development and support 
of the vegetable kingdom. The vegetable kingdom, 
coming, as it does, in organic structure, and deriving 
its peculiar properties from the combination of mineral 
element, formed in the surface-soil through the force of 
the external agents. The surface-soil being the point 
of contact between the internal forces and the external 
agents, the surface-soil then becomes the womb of nat- 
ure, from whence springs the organic structure and life 
of the vegetable kingdom, and which comes, as it were, 
by generation from the union of the internal forces with 
the external agents in the surface-soil. If these as- 
sumptions be true, may we not reasonably suppose that 
the geological formations of the earth, as it now exists, 
with its different strata of rocks, minerals, and earthy 
deposits, with all their diversified forms and peculiar 
characteristics, were the result of the first great and 
universal revolution, caused by the expansive force of 
internal heat that first elevated the dryland above the 
surrounding waters. But during the lapse of that long 
period of duration which has occurred since the first 
elevation of the dry land above the waters, doubtless 
many local revolutions have occurred in the crusts of 
the earth, many local submergences and elevations, 
until, perhaps, there is not now any part of the earth's 
crusts existing as it did when, by the expansive force of 
internal heat, it was first elevated above the waters, 
and the dry land first appeared. Then there was no 



32 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

organic life. But in succeeding ages organic life was 
developed, and the revolutions of succeeding ages have 
carried the fossil remains of organic life to the lowest 
depths, and raised them to the highest elevations of the 
crusts of the earth. If these assumptions be true and 
correct positions, then from this stand-point I can see 
no lack of harmony between geological science and the 
historical account of creation, as recorded by Moses, 
only in the assumption of the teachers of geological 
science that each of the strata of rocks and earthly de- 
posits in the crusts of the earth marks a decadence and 
a renewal of the works of Grod in creation — an assump- 
tion that is nowhere recognized in the Mosaic record — 
and is an assumption that is no more necessary to geo- 
logical science than is the assumption in agricultural 
science that the earth is possessed of a definite amount 
of the mineral elements of plant-food down to a cer- 
tain depth, and that by continued cropping they will 
all be taken out of the soil in the crops, and the land 
will thus be made barren and the earth made a desola- 
tion, and that to perpetuate the fertility of the soil it is 
necessary for the mineral elements of plant-food, taken 
out of the soil in the crops, to be returned to the soil 
by artificial means. This assumption in agricultural 
science teaches that the Grod of nature has not provided 
in the laws of nature the remedial means of her ex- 
haustion that would continually perpetuate the visible 
glory of his natural attributes ; but that the Grod of nat- 
ure having once made the glory of his natural attributes 
visible in the creation of the natural world, he leaves 
it either to the ability or to the capricious will of man 
to perpetuate his glory in creation by making it to de- 
pend upon man, by artificial means, to return to the 
soil the mineral elements of plant-food that would per- 



Artificial Fertilizers N"ot a Necessity. 33 

petually bring forth the vegetable kingdom that sus- 
tains all animal life. This assumption in agricultural 
science makes the glory of the Creator, in the visible 
manifestation of the glory of his natural attributes, to 
depend upon the capricious will of the creature — a 
position too absurd to need an argument for its refuta- 
tion. 

If the solids of the earth are continually being dis- 
solved by internal heat, and by its expansive force are 
continually being made to escape through the crusts 
of the earth in gaseous vapor into the air, I may be 
asked the question, What is to prevent the whole crusts 
of the earth from ultimately becoming gaseous, and 
all the solid globe, with all its teeming millions of or- 
ganic life, both vegetable and animal, from ultimately 
becoming vaporized, and passing oif in thin air ? I 
can only answer this question by referring to the con- 
ceded fact that mutation of matter is a universal law 
of nature, and that the solids of the earth are contin- 
ually being dissolved by internal heat, and forced off 
through the crusts of the earth into thin air, and carry- 
ing with it, in vaporized conditioUj much of the surface 
waters of the earth, where it is again condensed by 
cold, a regulating force of the external agents, and 
returned again to the earth in water in the form of 
snow, rain, and dew; and being again returned to the 
surface of the earth as water impregnated with its 
original mineral elements, it is again ready to be crys- 
tallized, and be again dissolved by internal heat, and 
forced out by expansion through the crusts of the 
earth into its former aerial state. And thus by the 
mutation of matter the crusts of the earth are being 
continually vaporized, and, passing off in gaseous 
forms, and being returned to the surface of the earth 
3 



34 Artificial Fertilizers ISTot a Necessity. 

in water, are again crystallized, and again form the 
solid crusts of the earth. 

And so the material elements will continue, by muta- 
tion of matter, to change the forms and relation of 
material being through all the ages of this world's du- 
ration, when at the end of that duration, the Grod of 
naifure shall proclaim that his- purposes of creation 
have been accomplished, and all matter shall be 
changed into spirit, and a spiritual world of visible 
identity shall be made to take the place of the visible 
material world. So we find that the law of mutation 
is not confined in its operations to time, nor limited in 
its operations to the material world; but that it is an 
attribute of God that runs through all the ages of eter- 
nity, changing the glory of God and the happiness of 
intelligent creation from dispensation to dispensation 
in the natural and moral economy of God, running 
through all the ages of eternity, embracing the uni- 
verse w^ithin its compass, and forever, in the order of 
successive ages, making manifest the glory of God in 
the perfection of all his attributes, both natural and 
moral, according to his eternal purpose, from the foun- 
dation of the world. 

Thus it is, by the mutation of matter as a law of 
nature, acting through the force of internal heat, driv- 
ing through the crusts of the earth in gaseous form 
into thin air the mineral elements of plant-food that 
tend to destroy the fertility of the soil. But the same 
law of mutation meets, as the recuperating energies of 
nature, the escaping gases in the surface soil, and new 
combinations are formed, changing the escaping gases 
of mineral matter into a less volatile state, and so 
holding them until so much of them as is necessary to 
the productiveness of a fertile soil is appropriated as 



Artificial Fertilizers ]^ot a I^ecessity. 35 

life-sustaining food to the vegetable kingdom, through 
their roots that are embodied in the surface soil. The 
mineral elements that were forced out through the 
crusts of the earth by internal heat from its center 
could never of themselves impart organic structure 
and life to the vegetable kingdom; but they were 
met in the surface soil by the external agents that* im- 
part natural life, and were by them held in the surface 
soil until new combinations of mineral properties took 
place, and new forms of being followed as a result of 
the new combinations. And by cohesion of the inter- 
nal forces, and the external agents in the surftice soil, 
vitality was imparted to the soil, the earth was fructi- 
fied, and by generation made to bring forth organic 
structure and life. And soon the multitudinous or- 
ders of the vegetable kingdom were brought out of 
chaos, and the earth was clothed in the habiliments of 
living verdure. In obedience to the commands of the 
God of nature, the internal forces and the external 
agents, as if in affianced love, continued to meet in the 
surface soil, and the earth continued spontaneously to 
bloom in youthful vigor, and bring forth her fruits 
spontaneously for the sustenance of the higher orders 
of creation. But at the end of the sixth age of the 
w^orld's existence, this harmony between the internal 
forces and the external agents was impaired, and the 
earth was cursed for man's sake. And it became nec- 
essary for man to cultivate the soil, that he might, by 
cultivation, restore to the soil that productive fertility 
which it had lost by this loss of harmony between the 
internal forces and the external agents. These consid- 
erations of natural cause lead necessarily to the con- 
clusion that on account of the violation of the moral 
laws of God by man the external agents of nature 



36 Artificial Fertilizers Not a JSTecessity. 

were thrown into confusion and disorder, depriving 
them of the power to act with that regularity and uni- 
formity that had previously characterized them; caus- 
ing chemical combination to take place in the atmos- 
phere, producing that vicissitude of aerial phenomena 
wh^ch causes violent storms of wind, rain, hail, and 
snow, on various localities of the earth's surface, scat- 
tering too much water, at times, in. some localities, and 
not enough in others; washing away with floods of 
water the surface soil in some localities, and depositing 
it in others, causing drought, and making the earth, at 
times, in some localities to lose her productive fertil- 
ity for the lack of water and a proper degree of moist- 
ure; and at other times, in some localities causing the 
earth to lose her productive fertility by too much water 
and excess of moisture. All these destructive tenden- 
cies of nature the farmer must encounter and counter- 
act to the best of his ability, as a part of his duty as a 
cultivator of the soil, because for man's sake, on ac- 
count of his violation of the moral laws of Grod, they 
are the result of the disorder and confusion in the ex- 
ternal agents of nature that were brought upon the 
earth as a curse upon the earth for man's transgression. 
These evils, as resulting from the disordered condi- 
tion of the external agents of nature, were too small in 
comparison with other evils, resulting from the same 
cause, to be mentioned in the recorded history of nat- 
ure, only by incidentally referring to the fact that up 
to this time — that is, up to the regeneration and spirit- 
ual creation of man — it had not rained upon the earth, 
thus clearly indicating the harmony that had previously 
existed between the internal forces and the external 
agents of nature. Up to this time the uniformity and 
regularity of falling dews, caused by the condensation 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 37 

of ascending vapors, had furnished the earth with suf- 
ficient moisture to arrest in the surface soil the mineral 
elements that were escaping in gaseous form through 
the crusts of the earth, and hold them there until by 
the force of other external agents they were changed, 
and by combination, other properties were developed 
that would make them suitable plant-food to bring 
forth and sustain the vegetable kingdom with perpet- 
ual uniformity and regularity so long as harmony pre- 
vailed between the internal forces and the external 
agents. The greater curse that was denounced upon 
the earth in consequence of man's transgression was 
that' of partial barrenness. The earth was made to 
lose to a great extent the elements of productive fer- 
tility, and failed to bring forth the organic elements of 
vegetable life in sufficient abundance to sustain the or- 
ganic life of the animal kingdom. But instead thereof, 
it was made to bring forth "thorns also, and thistles," 
things pertaining to the vegetable kingdom, in conse- 
quence of man's transgression, upon which no animal 
can live. The external agents of nature being charged 
with the power to impart natural life to the vegetable 
kingdom — the seed of which was planted in the earth at 
its creation to be brought forth through the surface soil 
in organic form and structure by the internal forces 
coming in contact with the vital forces of the external 
agents in the surface soil — the mineral elements that 
were continually escaping through the 'surface soil, 
being driven out by the internal forces, were by contact 
with the external agents in the surface soil changed 
by chemical combination into other and diverse prop- 
erties, and being vitalized by the contact, each sepa- 
rate combination possessing its own vitality, built up 
for itself its own peculiar organic structure, from 



38 Artificial Fertilizers 'Not a Necessity. 

whence is derived the great diversity of organic struct- 
ure and properties of the vegetable kingdom. The 
external agents being thrown into disorder and con- 
fusion by man's violation of the moral laws of Grod, it 
became necessary in the moral economy of God that 
man should repair the damages, for he could not restore 
the order, but that he should repair the damages and 
heal the wounds which his own moral conduct had in- 
flicted upon nature. Hence the curse upon the earth 
for man's sake, that he should cultivate the earth, say- 
ing, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou 
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re- 
turn." That man might by cultivation put the surface 
soil in such mechanical condition that the external 
agents might meet and hold in it the escaping mineral 
elements f plant-food that were continually being 
driven up in gaseous form through the crusts of the 
earth, and by cultivation restore again at least partial 
harmony between the internal forces and the external 
agent that had been impaired by man's violation of the 
moral laws of God — to make man labor and toil in cul- 
tivation, that he might b}^ cultivation perpetually keep 
the surface soil in mechanical condition, to be the con- 
tinued lodgment of the vital forces, imparted by the 
external agents — the earth was made to bring forth 
thorns and thistles, wild and noxious vegetation, that 
must be subdued by cultivation before the vital forces, 
through the external agents, could cause the earth to 
bring forth bread to man. Thus it is that the exhaus- 
tion of the earth's fertility is produced by mutation of 
matter that is continually being carried on between 
the internal forces and the external agents through 
the operation of nature's laws for evil to man, on ac- 



Artificial Fertiltzers Not a ITecessity. 39 

count of his transgression of the moral laws of God. 
While it is by the mutation of matter continually carried 
on between the internal forces and the external agents 
through the operation of nature's laws that the soil is 
perpetually kept fertilized with the life-sustaining ele- 
ments of plant-food for man, yet it requires perpet- 
ual obedience to the Grod of nature in the cultivation 
of the soil which he has ordained as the means for 
keeping the soil in mechanical condition, to be vital- 
ized by the external agents. It is through this per- 
petual obedience of perpetual and good cultivation 
that the recuperating energies of nature, through the 
operation of nature's laws, perpetually maintains the 
fertility of the soil. While I hold this to be the true 
theory of agricultural science, I would only repudiate 
that part of agricultural science, as now taught, that 
holds to the idea that there is a fixed and definite 
amount of the mineral elements of plant-food in the 
surface soil down to a certain depth, and that by con- 
tinued cropping these may all be taken out of the soil 
in the crops grown upon the land, and that the soil 
may be thus deprived of its elements of fertility, and 
that complete exhaustion will follow continued culti- 
vation, unless these elements of fertility are returned 
to the soil by artificial means, I would in no wise re- 
pudiate that part of agricultural science that teaches 
the importance of using fertilizers upon the soil, be- 
cause a proper- and judicious use of fertilizers upon 
the soil is a part of that obedience due in perpetual 
cultivation. But the use of artificial fertilizers is not 
required because they are the only fountain of supply 
from whence the mineral elements of plant-food can 
be furnished to an exhausted soil, but because the fer- 
tilizers, when applied to the exhausted soil, put the 



40 Artificial Fertilizers ]^ot a Necessity. 

soil in such a mechanical condition that the external 
agents can gather and retain in the surface soil the 
mineral elements of fertility that are continually es- 
caping in gaseous form through the crusts of the 
earth; and being retained in the surface soil, their 
properties are changed by chemical combination, and 
vitality is imparted through the external agents, and 
they become organic food to supply the wants of" or- 
ganic crops that are growing in the soil. If there 
were no other fountain of supply for the elements of 
productive fertility to the soil than that which the art 
of man can make, or the labor of man can supply, by 
the application of artificial fertlizers, or fertilizers 
made from the crops, returning to the soil that which 
he had taken off in his crops, less the unavoidable 
waste, the earth would soon become a barren waste, and 
the world a desolation without an inhabitant. So small 
an amount of the elements of productive fertility can 
be returned to the soil by artificial means, or by the 
labor of man in comparison to its requirements, that it 
would be less in comparison than a drop to the great 
ocean of waters. But when we consider the mechan- 
ical effects of fertilizers applied to the soil, putting the 
surface soil in mechanical condition for the external 
agents to meet and hold in the surface soil the mineral 
elements of fertility that are continually escaping 
through the crusts of the earth, and there converting 
them by chemical combination into organic plant-food, 
the importance of using fertilizers, though compara- 
tively small in amount, can hardly be estimated. As 
valuable and as important as artificial fertilizers may 
be — all the fertilizers that the skill and the art of man 
can make, or the labor of man can apply to the soil — 
yet but comparatively a very small portion of the tilla- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a ]J^ecessity. 41 

ble land of the earth's surface can receive their benefits. 
And all that portion that cannot receive the benefits 
of artificial fertilizers must be kept up by some other 
means than that of applied fertilizers. 

To determine these means, and their best adaptation 
to secure the ends proposed, is the test of practical 
cultivation. These means are so numerous, and the 
contingent circumstances connected with their use are 
so varied, that they cannot all be subjected to any uni- 
versal rules in practical cultivation. All cultivators of 
the soil know that thorough and fine pulverization of 
the surface soil is necessary to its highest productive 
fertility in most of the crops grown upon the land; but 
they differ in opinion as to the depth to which the soil 
should be pulverized, both in its preparation for the 
seed and in the cultivation of the crops. This diversi- 
ty of opinion does not result from the necessity of 
thorough pulverization of the soil, for thorough pul- 
verization only puts the soil in mechanical condition 
for the free and full action of the vital forces imparted 
bj^ the external agents, and gives the external agents 
increased power to hold and put in proper combination 
the escaping elements of productive fertility. This 
difference of opinion depends upon the conditon of the 
various soils to be cultivated, some soils not admitting 
of deep cultivation to develop their greatest produc- 
tive fertility, while the productive fertility of other 
soils will be greatly increased by deep stirring. Then, 
to determine the proper depth of cultivation depends 
upon the experience, the observation, and the judg- 
ment of the cultivator. An important consideration 
connected with deep or shallow stirring is that of grad- 
ually deepening the surface soil in land that will only 
admit of shallow cultivation, in order, by deepening 



42 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

the soil, to furnish more room and greater facilities for 
the action of the external agents. But here again the 
judgment of the cultivator is called into requisition, 
for this must be done with caution, not turning too 
much of the clay subsoil at one time; lest by so doing 
the permeating power of the external agents be cut 
off, their power of arresting and combining the escap- 
ing elements of fertility be lessened, and their power 
of imparting vitality to the soil be impaired. Another 
mode of perpetuating the productive fertility of the 
soil is that of turning under a crop of vegetation that 
has grown upon the soil, either dead or in its green 
state. But if it is put under in its green state, it will 
decompose quicker, and yield in a shorter time a greater 
amount of fertilizing properties; not that there is any 
great amount of fertilizing elements in any crop that 
may be turned under, but the crop turned under does, 
by fermentation and decomposition, put the surface 
soil in mechanical condition to be permeated by the 
external agents, giving it greater power to gather, 
hold, and combine into organic plant-food the escaping 
mineral elements that internal heat is continually forc- 
ing oiit through the crusts of the earth. 

Eotation of crops is another mode, pointed out by 
nature, of increasing the fertility of the soil, or of in- 
creasing the productive yield of crops; for we see that 
every few years the annual crops of spontaneous veg- 
etation are changed from one class to another. How 
this increase of productive fertility is brought about by 
a rotation of crops is not easily perceived, unless it be 
supposed that by the cultivation of the soil in one crop 
for a series of years in succession it gathers a super- 
abundance of the fertilizing properties necessary to 
sustain other crops, drawing away from the soil and 



Artificial Fertilizers 'Not a Necessity. 43 

appropriating to their use, or rendering inert in the 
soil the fertilizing properties rtecessary to sustain the 
crop that has been long in cultivation. The increased 
yield, by a change to other crops, would seem to indi- 
cate that this is a correct solution of the advantages 
gained by rotation of crops; for we perceive that 
although the soil refuses to bring a bountiful yield of 
one crop after long-continued and successive cultiva- 
tion of one crop upon the same land, the soil is not ex- 
hausted, for by changing to some other crop a bounti- 
ful yield is obtained. Be this as it may, the facts of 
nature are stubborn things, and cannot be ignored with 
impunity. 

Mulching the ground with any dead vegetation, dur- 
ing the dry and hot seasons of the summer and fall, is 
a mode of increasing the fertility of the soil, by re- 
taining the moisture in the surface soil, thus putting 
it in mechanical condition to store up and hold in 
readiness the fertilizing elements that are continually 
escaping through the crusts of the earth to be combined 
into life-sustaining food for the succeeding crop. 

Fallowing the land has been resorted to as a means 
of increasing the productive fertility of the soil, and 
was in use in agricultural practice among the Hebrews, 
in the flourishing days of Jewish prosperity and great- 
ness. But, judging of what would be necessary to 
make this mode of increasing the fertility of the soil 
upon theoretical grounds, in the absence of any exper- 
imental or practical observation of its effects, I should 
conclude that, under this mode of increasing the fer- 
tility of the soil, to make it efficient it would require 
the expenditure of more labor upon the land in fallow- 
ing than would be necessary to make a crop upon the 
same land, for it would have to be turned as deep as 



44 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

the character of the soil would admit, as early in the 
season as possible; and then continued and repeated 
shallow cultivation of the surface must be kept up 
through the whole season, so as to keep the surface 
pulverized and brought to a state of fineness that 
would act as a mulch to the underlying soil, thus caus- 
ing it to retain moisture, and enabling it to gather and 
hold the escaping elements of fertility that are contin- 
ually passing off in gaseous form through the crusts 
of the earth. But, notwithstanding the amount of 
labor necessary to success, I am of the opinion that 
with proper attention to drainage, to keep the loose and 
naked soil from washing off, fallowing can be made the 
most efficient and best paying mode of natural fertil- 
ization. If, when the land is turned in in the spring, 
a good green crop of some of the winter cereals — oats, 
rye, or barley — be turned under, and the surface be 
kept sufficiently fined by shallow cultivation during the 
whole season, the fermentation and decomposition of 
the green crop would add greatly to the mechanical 
condition of the underlying soil, and thereby enable it 
to gather and hold in greater abundance the elements 
of escaping fertility, while at the. same time it would 
clear the ground of weeds and noxious vegetation, and 
render the soil so mellow and easy of cultivation the 
next year that this alone would almost pay for the 
extra labor of the fallow year. This, however, is only 
an opinion based upon theoretical conclusions, without 
any practical observations; yet the theory holds out 
such promising hope of material aid that I doubt not 
it will be brought to the test of practical observation, 
and the old Jewish mode of fertilization by fallowing, 
that was suggested and sanctioned by divine authority, 
will be again brought back into use in greater per- 



Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 45 

fection than in the most flourishing days of Jewish 
agricultural prosperity. 

Clover and peas are a class of vegetation that, even 
while growing, are not regarded as exhausters of the 
soil, but, on the contrary, are considered as natural 
fertilizers. But upon what theory in the economy of 
nature they cease to be exhausters, and become fertiliz- 
ers of the soil, is undetermined, either by agricultural 
science or by the observation of practical agriculturists. 
But, upon the theory set forth in this treatise, I think 
it is probable that the fertilizing power of this class of 
the vegetable kingdom is due in great part to the fact 
that they possess an affinity for certain mineral ele- 
ments of plant-food drawn from the soil, which causes 
them to send forth a luxuriant growth of stems and 
leaves impregnated with these elements of plant-food, 
thus furnishing a shade to the ground that becomes a 
natural mulch, producing moisture that retains and 
holds in the soil the- elements of escaping fertility, 
while the plants themselves are not exhausters of the 
elements of fertility gathered in the surface soil through 
the mulching power furnished by their shade, carrying 
off from the soil no fertilizing elements, either in 
growth- or by evaporation ; while other classes of veg- 
etation furnishing shade to the ground are themselves 
exhausters of the soil. 

If this theory of natural fertilization be correct, then 
let the inhabitants of the earth rejoice in deliverance 
and freedom from the lash of the dread of ultimate 
starvation, which is being held in threatening attitude 
over their heads by that system of agricultural science 
which teaches man that he must return to the soil all 
the fertilizing elements that he takes from it in his 
crops, because there is only a fixed and definite amount 



46 Artificial Fertilizers Not a Necessity. 

of the fertilizing elements in the soil, and if he fails to 
return to the soil all that he takes oif in his crops, 
ultimate starvation must follow. 

It cannot be believed that the God of nature ever 
ordained such a system of natural economy as that, 
which makes the perpetual productiveness of the earth 
to depend upon the labor of man, without providing 
in nature the means whereby his labor might secure 
its perpetual productiveness. 

But again, if this theory of natural recuperation be 
correct, let the cultivators of the soil rejoice in hope of 
their emancipation from the chemist and the manu- 
facturer of artificial fertilizers, who seem to be com- 
bined to lay the heavy burden of untold millions of 
dollars upon the shoulders of the cultivators of the soil, 
to be necessarily expended, as they claim, in the pur- 
chase of artificial fertilizers. 

Believing that this theory can in nowise result in 
evil, but hoping that it may be productive of beneficial 
results, the author respectfully submits this treatise to 
the consideration of scientific investigators, and to the 
test of agricultural experiment and observation. 



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